Dwellhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/7593/all
enHow Glass With Chicken Wire Became Trendyhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-glass-chicken-wire-became-trendy-159361
Robert Klara<p>
<strong>If you&rsquo;ve</strong> spent any time trying to spruce up your home lately, you might have noticed something interesting. The practice of repurposing old industrial products has become a full-on part of modern domestic life.&nbsp;</p>
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In the early 20th century, wired glass could be found in office buildings everywhere. In this 1905 ad, Mississippi Wire Glass promoted that its products were used in New York&rsquo;s prestigious Trinity Building. In fact, they still are.<span class="meta-credit"> </span></p>
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<a href="http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/12-ways-to-repurpose-home-furnishings/pictures/index.html" target="_blank">HGTV.com&rsquo;s 12 Clever Uses for Old Furniture</a> features tips like using a mattress spring box as a bulletin board. Last year, Dwell magazine carried a story about <a href="http://www.dwell.com/post/slideshow/6-amazing-repurposed-designs" target="_blank">Austria&rsquo;s Das Park Hotel</a> where the rooms are made out of old concrete sewer pipes. (&ldquo;These pipes are ready for occupants,&rdquo; enthused the editors.) Restoration Hardware has created an entire segment devoted to repurposing industrial objects from ages past, like the bar created from a 265-pound cast-iron German lightbulb testing machine from the &rsquo;20s.</p>
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Fans of repurposing take it as an article of faith that the items being reused must have had some past, utilitarian life. But most of the time, we don&rsquo;t actually get to experience what those lives looked like&mdash;unless, of course, we look through the window of advertising. The two ads here demonstrate how wired glass&mdash;an ordinary product of the last century&mdash;became trendy today.</p>
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Chances are, you remember this kind of glass from the doors of your high school gymnasium. Sam Spade&rsquo;s office door in The Maltese Falcon had it, too. A century ago, wire glass (made from laying chicken wire between two ribbons of semi-molten glass and then pressing them together) served the dual purpose of meeting fire code and, since it came in a variety of textures, providing privacy. This 1905 ad for the Mississippi Wire Glass Co. boasted that the Trinity Building, at the time a new office tower in New York, used its signature product.</p>
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So how did a workaday commodity from our industrial heyday become the defining element of The Lucien, the $1,270 fixture shown in this 2014 ad for Urban Electric Co.? &ldquo;The inspiration for the use of the wire glass came from old industrial skylights and gymnasium doors,&rdquo; designer Michael Amato told us. No doubt it did&mdash;but the law helped, too.</p>
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Between 2003 and 2006, the International Building Code gradually phased out wired glass as fire-safety compliant. Old buildings had for years already been replacing wire glass, and with so many giving it the heave-ho, it got instant antique status.</p>
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&ldquo;They&rsquo;re going for that traditional, nostalgic look,&rdquo; ventured Stuart Leslie, president of brand design firm 4sight, who&nbsp;added that many young designers have an affinity for incorporating found or recovered objects (genuine or reproduction) in contemporary home and office accessories. &ldquo;It looks like it had a use for something else, and they cut it up for a light. It&rsquo;s a found object thing going on. I can see the appeal of a cool, retro fixture like this.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
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<strong>&lsquo;It looks like it had a use for something else, and they cut it up for a light. It&rsquo;s a found object thing.&rdquo;</strong><span class="meta-credit"> Stuart Leslie, founder and president, 4sight</span></p>
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&ldquo;Even though,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s just chicken wire.&rdquo;</p>
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<img src="/files/1_7.jpg" />&nbsp;This finish is &ldquo;antique brass,&rdquo; evoking a time before plastic took over.</p>
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<img src="/files/2_3.jpg" />&nbsp;Urban Electric is a 10-year-old company whose 300 fixtures embody what it calls &ldquo;the very best of past and future.&rdquo; Fortunately for them, there&rsquo;s a lot of past to borrow from.</p>
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<img src="/files/3_3.jpg" />&nbsp;Even though this wired glass isn&rsquo;t used as a window anymore, Leslie points out that safety glass is still&nbsp;a wise choice for an object that&rsquo;ll hang over people&rsquo;s heads. &ldquo;The use for the glass,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;has come around full circle.&rdquo;</p>
Advertising & Branding4sightDwellHGTVindustrialindustrial productsMichael AmatoPerspectiverepurposedStuart LeslieThu, 14 Aug 2014 01:07:31 +0000159361 at http://www.adweek.comDwell Media Hires New Head of Digital From Yahoohttp://www.adweek.com/news/press/dwell-media-hires-new-head-digital-yahoo-149794
Emma Bazilian<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/e-commerce-hed-2013_0.jpg"> <p>
Dwell Media, the San Francisco-based publisher of modern design bible Dwell, has hired Brandon Huff as evp of digital media to lead a new e-commerce push. Huff, who most recently was Yahoo&#39;s vp of commerce, will be in charge of overseeing all aspects of Dwell&#39;s digital agenda, from content distribution to design to the holy grail of magazine media&mdash;e-commerce.</p>
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Until now, Dwell has taken the well-traveled route of working with third-party retail platforms like Gilt and OpenSky, and currently, AHAlife to create commerce experiences. Dwell&rsquo;s new commerce effort, launching in early 2014, will be fully integrated into the magazine&rsquo;s site (even if that means Dwell will be holding some of its own inventory&mdash;a rare move for a media company). &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve decided to make available, consumers will be able to transact right on the site,&rdquo; Huff said.</p>
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&ldquo;I was very direct with Michela [O&#39;Connor Abrams, Dwell&rsquo;s president and publisher] and [Dwell founder Laura Deam] that the idea to come in and bolt on a shopping-like experience wasn&rsquo;t something I was remotely interested in,&rdquo; Huff said. &ldquo;When people come to Dwell, they&rsquo;re engaged and inspired. &hellip; Why have them click out to another site?&rdquo;</p>
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In addition to the e-commerce push, Huff also wants to enable Dwell readers to connect to local suppliers and designers through the magazine&rsquo;s site. Eventually, he&rsquo;s also hoping to launch a new native mobile app to replace Dwell&rsquo;s current replica tablet edition.</p>
The PressDesignDwellDwell MediaOnlineshelter magazinesMagazineFri, 24 May 2013 04:26:02 +0000149794 at http://www.adweek.comMore Than Half A Million Magazines Created on Flipboard 2.0 (So Far)http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/more-half-million-magazines-created-flipboard-20-so-far-148534
Emma Bazilian<p>
It&rsquo;s been two weeks since the release of <a href="http://inside.flipboard.com/2013/03/27/welcome-to-the-next-generation-of-flipboard/" target="_blank">Flipboard 2.0</a>, which gave users the ability to create their own custom magazines using repurposed content. Today, Flipboard released a <a href="http://inside.flipboard.com/2013/04/11/half-a-million-and-counting/" target="_blank">spiffy infographic</a> showing just how active its users have been with the new features. And, it turns out, they&rsquo;ve been really, really, <em>really</em> active.</p>
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More than 500,000 new magazines have been created in the past two weeks by Flipboard&rsquo;s 53 million users (three million of which also joined the site during that time), and more than half of Flipboard 2.0 users are reading them every day. The magazine with the most articles, titled Modern Gentleman&rsquo;s Playground, includes nearly 2,500 separate items. (Try putting that into print.)</p>
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Among Flipboard publishers, <a href="http://www.esquire.com" target="_blank">Esquire</a> seems to have a real knack for the new platform: It&rsquo;s responsible for three of the platform&rsquo;s 10 most-read magazines (No. 1 is &ldquo;The Esquire Interviews&rdquo;). National Geographic has also proved popular, with two magazines on the Top 10 list. Other titles of note are Dwell&rsquo;s &ldquo;Prefab Perfection,&rdquo; Rolling Stone&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Beatles,&rdquo; and <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/" target="_blank">Martha Stewart Living&rsquo;s</a> &ldquo;Home How-Tos.&rdquo; Unsurprisingly, the most-flipped article, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/places-you-wont-believe-actually-exist" target="_blank">28 Incredibly Beautiful Places You Won&#39;t Believe Actually Exist,</a>&rdquo; belongs to Buzzfeed.</p>
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Flipboard also gave us a glimpse into its users daily habits: 9 a.m. is the most popular time of day for reading content, 1 p.m. is the top time of day for creating it, and 7 p.m. is when the most sharing happens.&nbsp;</p>
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Finally, the most important piece of data: The new Flipboard contains at least 106 Game of Thrones fanzines.</p>
TechnologyThe PressAppsBuzzfeedDwellEsquireFlipboardGame of ThronesMartha Stewart Living OmnimediaNational GeographicTabletTabletMagazineThu, 11 Apr 2013 21:53:36 +0000148534 at http://www.adweek.comDwell and NY Mag Repeat City Modern Collaborationhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/dwell-and-ny-mag-repeat-city-modern-collaboration-148187
Emma Bazilian<p>
New York and Dwell magazines are prepping their second City Modern festival, an unusual cross-title collaboration consisting of a week of events and home tours for consumers and trade professionals.</p>
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The <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/from-2-divergent-magazines-a-special-design-issue/" target="_blank">inaugural City Modern</a>&nbsp;included a jointly produced onsert that was polybagged with 150,000 copies across both magazines. This year&#39;s publication, however, will appear as a 24-page insert that will be distributed to 700,000 subscribers. The insert will appear in the October Dwell (on newsstands Sept. 10) and New York&#39;s Fall Preview double issue (on stands Aug. 26).</p>
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The agenda will be more consumer-oriented this year, said Dwell Media president Michela O&#39;Connor Abrams, noting that the design industry has only recently begun to open up to nonprofessionals. &ldquo;In New York, there&rsquo;s been a sea change around how design is discussed,&rdquo; said Abrams. &ldquo;These days, design-savvy consumers wouldn&rsquo;t dream of standing outside the window while their designer or architect makes decisions.&quot; (Dwell&rsquo;s print readership already reflects the consumer/trade crossover, with a 40 percent trade readership.)</p>
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With the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy in October, the timing of City Modern could make for an awkward juxtaposition. The festival will dedicate part of its programming to urban development and rebuilding, though. &quot;Everyone seems to be talking about cities this year, and we are excited to present the designer&#39;s perspective and look at how we want to live in the modern world,&quot; said Abrams.&nbsp;</p>
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Other new areas of focus may include topics like hospitality, art and fashion design. The festival also will have more programming and home tours in Manhattan and Brooklyn, pop-up stores, and installations.&nbsp;</p>
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City Modern is still seeking sponsors for the festival, which attracted 12 backers last year including presenting sponsor Audi and offical sponsors Grohe, Arhaus, Legrand and the New York Design Center.</p>
Advertising & BrandingThe PressCity ModernDwellNew York MagazineMagazineTue, 09 Apr 2013 18:40:03 +0000148187 at http://www.adweek.com'Dwell' Names New Editorhttp://www.adweek.com/news/press/dwell-names-new-editor-137240
Lucia Moses<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/dwell-magazine-feb12-2011.jpg"> <p>
<em>Dwell</em>, the independent modern design magazine, has a new editorial team. Amanda Dameron was promoted to editor in chief from executive editor. Working closely with her will be Alejandro Chavetta, who was named creative director, from art director. The pair replaces Sam Grawe and Kyle Blue, the editor and creative director, respectively, who left last summer.</p>
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The appointments complete a leadership change at <em>Dwell</em>, which named Brenda Saget Darling as publisher in August. The magazine has also added a new photo editor, Anna Alexander, and senior editor, Kelsey Keith.</p>
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Dwell Media president Michela O&rsquo;Connor Abrams said Dameron would bring a multiplatform sensibility to the role. Despite being a small independent, <em>Dwell</em> survived the recession while many shelter magazines folded by having diversified revenue streams, and it has plans for a new commerce initiative and bigger events business in 2012. O&rsquo;Connor Abrams projects ad pages for the magazine, meanwhile, to be flat this year and up 10 percent-15 percent in 2012.</p>
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&ldquo;Amanda has proven herself over the past three years, leading the charge on digital,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Connor Abrams said, by phone from vacation in Mexico. &quot;She&rsquo;s been working on all the platforms.&rdquo;</p>
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O&rsquo;Connor Abrams also hopes having her editor in New York, where Dameron has been since September, will raise the San Francisco-based magazine&rsquo;s profile.</p>
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&ldquo;Moving her to New York was deliberate because it was really critical to me that the world know that we take New York very seriously,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The perception was we were a West Coast-based company even though we always had editors flying all over the world.&rdquo;<br />
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The PressAmanda DameronDwellMichela O'Connor AbramsThu, 22 Dec 2011 10:22:37 +0000137240 at http://www.adweek.com